I'm not concerned about missing a couple 4th round picks, or next years 2nd.
The reason I said they aren't actually asset poor is because as of today this is the only year they don't have a 1st which is OK because 2025 is not seen as a particularly strong draft..
Now I think they are going to become asset poor because I do think Treliving is going to do something fairly big at this deadline and I expect further moves to empty the cupboard over the next 3-6 seasons.
But as of today they have solid prospects in Cowan, Minten Danford and Grebenkin, they have their 1st next year, they have a full set of picks in 2027. 2025 is looking scarce in terms of draft capital but overall I feel like they are doing ok, the cupboards aren't empty.
They will be but as of today they aren't
You might not be concerned, but perhaps that lack of concern isn't seeing what we have by way of trade chips. Your reason for saying we're not asset poor doesn't reconcile our numeric disadvantage.
As for "solid prospects", I think we might have two in Cowan and Minten and even then, we're not a club with prospects where our consensus is screaming not to trade anyone. Again, by definition, we don't have a surplus to draw from, in fact, we don't have a baseline to draw from, and how much we need vs how much we can get is sorely taxed from either side.
Clubs like Chicago and Detroit, Buffalo...They're asset rich: Pipeline is humming, picks to play with, assets to sell because their trajectory isn't in line with maximizing a group in its prime.
We had a small window with Hildeby and Aktyamov, but I think perception has reset. Grebenkin; HIghly quotable and seems a great dude, but he's not a "trade chip". Neither is Niemela. And Danford...Does he feel like a Matt Finn-Stuart Percy-Karel Pilar special.
We've got Minten and Cowan, a '26 1st, a '25 2nd, our 3rds and maybe Nick Robertson for support pieces, and some other depth that might yield replenishing some middle round picks. But we aren't trading from prospect depth or pick depth and we have no excess in either, like the clubs mentioned above.
We are presently, definitionally, in terms of traditional trade assets, asset-poor. That full set of picks in 2027 might as well be in 2037. No club is looking at Maple Leafs picks beyond 1sts, three drafts away and beyond, when considering their valuation models for pieces they're willing to move.
Treliving and Co. are going to have to get creative. That said, our core has to lead the way. What little we have to acquire with, has the right profile to yield good support parts with term control. Any move we make, has to be for controllable assets. Come July 1 2025, we'll know where we stand. And if we had made better decisions under Dubas, those assets dispensed like free candy might have had a positive effect on today's needs.